Big 12 Basketball: 3 most desirable programs in conference realignment

Most approaches to this round of conference realignment come with football prominence as the first thought, which overlooks the strengths of any of the eight remaining Big 12 basketball programs. The Big 12 is actually a conference that more often excelled in men’s and women’s hoops in the past decade than it did on the gridiron.

There were some Big 12 football programs that did well on the national stage in the past decade, namely the Baylor Bears, TCU Horned Frogs, and Oklahoma Sooners, at different points in time. Yet, the Big 12 regularly had representatives either winning the National Championship in men’s and women’s hoops, or coming close to it.

Strength of Big 12 basketball is hard to ignore in realignment

That’s not really something that the conference could say in football.

Moreover, with the Sooners and Texas Longhorns looking to leave the Big 12 to start competing in the SEC as soon as possible, the thought of conference realignment has resurfaced in a big way the past few weeks. Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the SEC is the main reason why this super conference realignment conversation took center stage around the college sports landscape of late.

And throughout this coming college football season, conference realignment will continue to be an ongoing conversation with the Big 12 right in the middle of it. But if we’re looking at the remaining eight Big 12 schools from a hoops approach, which are going to be the hottest commodities?

Here’s a look at three of the most desirable Big 12 schools left in conference realignment, taking a hoops-first mentality.